148 of 254 Bailey County Courthouse, Muleshoe, Texas. County Population: 7,165
"The county was marked off from Bexar County in 1876 and named for Peter J. Bailey, an Alamo hero. Bailey and twenty-one other counties newly formed at the time were attached to Jack County for judicial purposes. In 1881 jurisdiction of Bailey County was transferred from Jack to Baylor County; then, in 1887, to Hale County; and in 1892 to Castro County. Settlement of Bailey County did not come early, since the XIT Ranch held most of its land from 1882 until the division and sale of the ranch in 1901.
"As late as 1900 the United States census counted only four people living in Bailey County. "The county developed rather quickly during the early twentieth century, however, as old ranchland was divided up and sold to farmers by land developers. "A county seat election [occured] in 1919, with Muleshoe carrying seventy-four of the 111 votes cast. William R. Hunt and John Leffler, "BAILEY COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online "[Muleshoe] was founded when the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway laid tracks across the county in 1913 and was named for the nearby Muleshoe Ranch." William R. Hunt, "MULESHOE, TX," Handbook of Texas Online I visited Bailey County and photographed the courthouse in Muleshoe on Friday, May 18, 2012.
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